Hokage: Ryo’s Path Chapter 278

A few days after his resurrection, and with the help of Ryo and Korin’s Spiritual Power, Yahiko could perfectly control his new body.
Still, Ryo kept getting surprises. Unlike Orochimaru when using Living Corpse Reincarnation in the Manga, Yahiko did not get his strength from before the operation. Now, he had to practice from scratch.
Fortunately, his new body was even healthier than his old one, and Yahiko still held his memories of all that he had learned before, so he should just need some time to get to his past strength, and beyond.
More days went by, and Orochimaru confirmed that there was nothing wrong with Yahiko besides the dip in his strength.
This made him extremely excited! Orochimaru’s main purpose was to learn everything. If he achieved eternal life, why would he be complaining about having to take a few years with every new body to get back as strong as before?
Therefore, he immediately began preparing his own clones.
As for Ryo, he returned to Konoha’s after Yahiko’s resurrection. Now, Naruto was over 3 years old, and with his Uzumaki blood and being Ashura’s reincarnation, Ryo felt it was suitable for him to start learning how to extract his Chakra.
Kushina also thought the same as Ryo. To her, Naruto was, above anything, Minato’s son, and she believed in his talent.
Therefore, on the same day of his return, Ryo took Naruto to the 3rd Training Ground, preparing to teach him how to extract his Chakra.
The young boy however was completely uninterested in this! This surprised Ryo greatly, as being able to control one’s own Chakra was a skill that no one else wouldn’t want in this world.
Ryo wanted to get to the bottom of the matter, so he took Naruto to Ichiraku. Under the temptation of the bowl of ramen, Naruto explained everything.
It turned out that the young boy had been in contact with Kurama, and things were greatly different this time from what they were like in the manga. Now that Kurama was already friends with his mother, he would occasionally talk to Naruto about some issues related to Chakra and battle.
The most powerful of the Biju, even when halved, would often say: “Don’t hesitate; whenever you need Chakra, you can ask me!” whenever context called for it.
Back when he saved Hinata, Naruto actually used this Chakra to make his clone!
Therefore, young Naruto thought that with such an abundance of Chakra at his disposal, he had no need to practice refining his own!
After knowing the reason behind Naruto’s awkward behavior, Ryo looked helpless, never expecting Kurama to actually do such a thing.
When Naruto finished his food, Ryo let himself into his consciousness.
Kurama had naturally heard the conversation that took place between Naruto and Ryo. Noticing Ryo’s reaction, he just faked being asleep as the latter approached him.
“No need to fake it, Kurama! I don’t blame you. We all want to protect Naruto, so I came here to ask you to promise me something: Unless Naruto is in a very dangerous situation, do not lend him Chakra!”
The Kyubi opened his eyes and said: “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Kurama, you must promise me this. This is not just about Naruto refusing to learn how to extract his own Chakra; it’s about the fact that your Chakra has the potential of overwhelming him with negative emotions.”
“I’ve had those negative emotions under control when I gave Naruto Chakra last time; it won’t affect him.” The Kyubi explained.
“Although your control of these negative emotions is protecting Naruto for now, if he keeps relying on your Chakra, they could accumulate. That, along with him being too reliant on you, cannot be good for his growth.”
Kurama remained silent, understanding that Ryo was right.”
“So, Kurama, from now on, lend Naruto as little as possible of your power from now on! When he grows up as a person and as a Ninja, you can let him have all your strength, just like with Kushina before.”
The Kyubi nodded, finally reaching a consensus with Ryo.
With that done, the latter’s consciousness left Naruto’s mind. With the ramen finished, Ryo took him to the 3rd training ground. Instead of walking or teleporting there, this time, he used Rasa’s trick to fly with him to their destination!
“Hey uncle, teach me this please! Flying like this, so cool!” Naruto stared at Ryo with envy.
“To learn such techniques, you must first learn how to refine your Chakra!”
“I said I have Kurama; I don’t need to…”
“You try and see if Kurama would lend you his Chakra.” Ryo interrupted Naruto with a smile.
Naurto immediately tried to communicate with his Biju, but obviously with no success.
“So, are you now willing to learn to refine Chakra with me?”
Naruto nodded bitterly, and began to learn with Ryo.
Having the Uzumaki blood, Ryo was immediately able to extract his own Chakra after learning the method.
Ryo, who thought previously that this process went fast for him, realized that he holds no candle to young Naruto.
In the following week, Naruto kept refining his Chakra under supervision of Ryo and Kushina, until its amount stopped growing.
“How does he have so little Chakra?!” Kushina muttered after perceiving her son’s Chakra.
“That’s little? Ne san, Naruto has as much Chakra as a Tokubetsu Jonin despite his young age. What more do you want?”
“Naruto is an Uzumaki! For our clan, he’s just average for his age. You know… I was hoping for more!”
These words hit Ryo like a sack of bricks, hurting his pride. Still, he could now further appreciate how horrifying the Uzumaki clan truly was.
In the manga, teen Naruto had a 100 times as much Chakra as Kakashi. Ryo never expected that much to be average for an Uzumaki!
This made him also understand why the Uzumaki clan was almost annihilated as well. With so much Chakra, they were a clear threat to most people in this world, a threat that needed to be eliminated.
Ryo shook his head, chasing these thoughts out. This matter happened long ago, and now he didn’t need to focus on that. He only needed to have the peace of mind to teach Naruto and get him to his strongest.
After the Chakra refinement was completed, Ryo gave Naruto a Chakra Induction Paper. Just like the Manga, Naruto only had Wind Release Affinity.
Ryo did not care about this, as training should help expand his affinities. He only gave Naruto this paper to confirm the direction he had in mind for training him.
Naruto was very interested in Ninjutsu, but he was unfortunately too young for it to be suiting to teach him too many of them.
Therefore, Ryo only taught him a c-class Jutsu as first, letting the child practice slowly.
With his current Chakra stores, it was clear that Naruto was most suitable to being a Ninjutsu-Type Ninja. However, the child was also Minato’s son. While he might not be the next Yellow Flash, Ryo had to make sure that speed would not be his weakness.
Therefore, Ryo decided to slowly teach Naruto Wind Release, and then use that as basis to passing on Shisui’s style of Body Flicker to him….